fast ascent

[scuba150]

hi,

i'm an open water student, who has dived only few times for shallow deeps.
few hours ago, i dived from a boat down. as i got to the bottem (about 9 meters deep) i pumped my backplate, the button stucked and i ascended very fast upside (about 20 sec for 9 meters)

after that, we took some rest and did another dive to the same deep (for about 20 minutes)

right now i feel ok, my ears a little blocked and i feel tired, but not something unusual. after the dive i bleed from my nose, but this is my deepest dive so fat, so i dont know if its unusual.

do i have any risk for Decompression? what can i do to minimize the risks relating to that phenomena?

 

[Diver0001]

It is highly unlikely that you will develop decompression sickness from this event.

I know it's frightening and I'm sure you will want to avoid it in the future but if you're feeling ok now, then I would not expect that to change. If it does, then please see a doctor without delay but once again, it is unlikely that this did any harm.

As for avoiding it... there are a couple of simple skills that can avoid an uncontrolled ascent because of a stuck inflator button:

namely:

1) your vest can vent/dump air as fast as it can fill. They are designed like that. If the inflator is stuck then you can go vertical (head up and left arm up) and dump the air as fast as the inflator will fill... this doesn't stop the free flow but it avoids the uncontrolled ascent

and

2) you can unclip the low-pressure hose from the nipple. This skill should have been shown to you in your OW course. If it wasn't then get someone to show you how to unclip the hose while the tank is turned on.

R..

 

[Garth]

Are you from NC? You have a tree of life in your thread is why I ask.

Short answer would be no. Longer answer includes the vast number of spelling mistakes in you post yet you spelled phenomena correctly. How old are you?

 

[Diver0001]

Are you from NC? You have a tree of life in your thread is why I ask.

a WHAT?

Short answer would be no. Longer answer includes the vast number of spelling mistakes in you post yet you spelled phenomena correctly.

In singular it's spelled "phenomenon" so the spelling in context is still incorrect.

I checked. He is not a sock-puppet, so please take his query seriously.

R..

 

[scuba150]

sorry for the spelling mistakes. not a native speaker (as you can imagine).

anyway, thank you for the answers. i hope everything would be fine.

we have'nt practiced this scenario in course.
after the incident i've improved my uncliping skill, i'm sure next time it wont end the same way.

i'm not from nc (north carolina?)

 

[Garth]

Okay, my mistake. I think it was a computer thing but I see on my browser a green symbol in your post that stands for the healthcare system I work for.

anyway. sorry for calling you out with the spelling. but...

tell us about yourself, I see you are new to the board. Have you created a greeting in the greeting section. Where are you from? Where was your class? that kind of stuff.

take care

 

[SC_Hoaty]

I would be concerned about potential lung over-expansion. This is why you should never hold your breath.

 

[scuba150]

i would create greeting card soon. for your question, i'm 27 years old.

while i climbed up, i breath normaly. i'm not feeling anything spiceal right now (except for the phenomenons i described earlier)

what should i feel if i had lung over-expansion?

 

[TSandM]

For lung overexpansion injury, you could feel chest pain or shortness of breath. If you continued breathing during your ascent, such injury is unlikely.

You said that this occurred as you reached the bottom. If you remember your class and the tables, the amount of nitrogen in your system is a product of depth and time. You were at a shallow depth for a very short time, so the amount of nitrogen dissolved in your body was very small. It would be fairly difficult to put yourself in a situation to be at risk for injury from dissolved nitrogen from 9 meters of depth, even if you had been down longer. So I think it's highly likely, as Diver0001 said, that you are okay.

It IS very important to practice the skills he listed, though. Stuck inflators aren't all that rare, and the results of having one at greater depth could be less benign.

 

[DevonDiver]

You're a student OW diver.... so where was your instructor when you had the problem?

What did he advise you about it afterwards?